Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this fits in with Mr. Shipley's comments in terms of individual MPs, whether on the committee or otherwise, and with what Bev has said about our commitment to veterans. One of the things that we're aware of around this place, the House of Commons, a parliamentary democracy, is that we wouldn't be serving if they hadn't served. That is basically what Bev is saying. That's something that we are always aware of. We have one of the greatest democracies on the face of the earth, and whether it's the Prime Minister or an individual member of Parliament, we're here because they stood up for us and what we believe in, in terms of freedom, democracy, and rule of law. Many of those families have sacrificed themselves and are still sacrificing themselves to those very values.
I want to thank individual members of Parliament. Although we're sitting formally in a committee this morning, many of you will know--and my chief of staff, Jacques Dubé, will tell you this--that the number of individual members of Parliament we talk to every day is almost amazing. I have a parliamentary liaison person, Bev Desjarlais, who is a former member of Parliament, and other members will tell you this on both sides of the House--and this is anecdotal, not scientific--but without question we have at least 15 to 20 members of Parliament a day, every day, coming forward to talk about issues or concerns that involve veterans in their constituency or sometimes in some other part of Canada. Truly, there's no one issue that unites parliamentarians more than veterans, regardless of political stripe. It's one of the very few things that does that. Actually, when I was appointed, everyone in cabinet said, “The Prime Minister gave you the best job in Canada.” One day I made the mistake of saying that out loud in front of the Prime Minister, and he said, “No, no, the people gave me the best job in Canada.”